


Scenes from a Retirement

by AuroraNova



Series: Love Story in Slow Motion [2]
Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: M/M, Retirement
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-06
Updated: 2018-02-07
Packaged: 2019-03-14 18:15:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,411
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13595643
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AuroraNova/pseuds/AuroraNova
Summary: Jack put in his time and now he got to reap the rewards. He took great delight in setting up the answering machine recording to say, “You’ve reached Jack O’Neill and Daniel Jackson,” which Daniel pretended was ridiculous, but they both knew he liked just as much.





	1. Orion

Jack’s first night as a retired general was fantastic. Couldn’t have asked for better. Daniel was half moved into the house, and he’d brought his bed, which was nicer than Jack’s anyway. They spent a lot of time in bed making love, and Jack took great delight in setting up the answering machine recording to say, “You’ve reached Jack O’Neill and Daniel Jackson.” Daniel pretended it was ridiculous, but they both knew he liked it just as much.

In the morning, lacking groceries, they headed out for breakfast at the diner they both enjoyed, where the coffee met Daniel’s standards (it didn’t at most diners) and they served real maple syrup, not the fake crap.

As Jack sopped up the last of his maple syrup with French toast, Daniel announced, “We have a meeting at ten-thirty.”

“We do?” This was news to Jack. “Where?”

“It’s kind of a surprise.”

Jack didn’t like surprises, something Daniel knew full well. “A surprise.”

“It’s a good surprise, I promise.”

“That’s what everyone says.”

“Trust me,” said Daniel.

“I do.” It still didn’t mean he liked surprises, even coming from Daniel. Because he did trust his partner, he let himself be driven off to an unknown destination.

“Relax, Jack. We’re not going to be ambushed.”

“Surprises stress me out.” What if they disagreed on what constituted a good surprise? Then Daniel would expect him to be happy and he’d have to try not to disappoint and be disappointed, and it was so much simpler to avoid the expectations of a supposedly delightful surprise.

“Alright, alright. We’re going to see a dog.”

“A dog?” That part was great, though he wasn’t sure a surprise involving a living creature was a good idea.

“Just to see if you like him.” Daniel turned towards his old neighborhood. “I wasn’t about to pick out a dog for you, but my downstairs neighbor needs a good home for his late father’s beagle. It seems like a nice dog, and beagles aren’t giant slobbering beasts, so I thought we could take a look.”

Jack extrapolated. “And this means even if I don’t click with this dog, I can look for another?”

“Exactly.”

“Okay. This was a good idea. Better without the surprise part, but an excellent idea all the same.”

“One day I will surprise you and you’ll like it.”

“Probably better if you just do it instead of building anticipation. That’s the stressful part.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

Daniel’s soon-to-be-former apartment was a duplex. Not a bad place, if you didn’t mind that it was in a more crowded area and no good for stargazing. His neighbor was outside sitting on the porch with a beagle.

“Jack, this is Kevin. Kevin, my friend Jack.”

Hmm. At some point, they should probably have a conversation about the whole being open with their relationship thing. Not that Jack wanted to go marching in rainbow parades or anything, but he was damned proud to be with Daniel and happy enough to make it known when the occasion warranted. Like the answering machine.

“Hi Jack. This is Orion.”

Jack sat on the porch by the dog. Daniel knelt, but he had better knees.

“He’s a great dog,” said Kevin. “Friendly, well-behaved as long as you give him chew toys, a good companion.”

“Looks fairly young,” said Jack, petting the little guy behind the ears.

“He’s a year and a half next month. I’d keep him myself, but my fiancée is terribly allergic.”

Jack counted himself lucky that Daniel wasn’t allergic to dogs. Pollen (multiple varieties), yes. Cats, yes. Dogs, no. “Hey there Orion,” he said. The beagle leaned into the petting.

“I want to find a wonderful home for him,” said Kevin. “Orion was my dad’s best friend.”

So this was part meet and greet, part interview. Jack respected that. “I just retired from the Air Force,” he said. “I’ve been looking forward to getting a dog now that I have time.”

“Retired is good.”

“Tell me about it.”

Kevin grinned. “I mean for Orion. He was with my dad all the time, so I don’t want him to end up somewhere he’s going to be home alone ten hours a day.”

“If you have to do that, you don’t have time for a dog.”

Jack thought he might eventually end up doing some volunteer work, just to keep himself occupied and feeling useful. That would be maybe half a day a couple days a week, if he even ended up going the volunteer route, which was very much undecided. He was done with ten-plus hour days, that much was certain.

Orion rolled over and presented his belly for rubbing. He seemed like a really good-natured dog. “You’re a good boy, aren’t you?”

“He really is.” Kevin looked sad. “I’m going to miss him.”

“If I take him, you could come visit, see that he’d got a good home.”

“Do you want to go for a W-A-L-K with him?”

Jack took the offer to mean Kevin liked him so far. “That’d be great.”

Daniel tagged along, which was good. Sure, whatever dog they got would primarily be Jack’s companion, but Daniel needed to like the dog too. The fact that he’d thought of Orion for Jack was promising.

“You have to like him, too, or this will never work.”

“I’m not anti-dog,” said Daniel. “I’ve just never wanted to make the commitment for myself and have one relying on me. If you want to, that’s fine, and Orion is the kind of dog I like.”

“A beagle?”

“Well-behaved, not slobbery, and cute.”

Aha. Cute meant Daniel had fallen for Orion’s charms, too, so Jack could feel better about this. “He is a great dog.”

Orion happily trotted ahead of them, tail wagging, pausing on occasion to sniff at something. “I could see him with you,” Daniel said. “He’s not demanding, he just likes people.”

“Yeah. I like him. You think you could get used to coming home to both of us?”

“I really do.”

They brought Orion home that afternoon.     


	2. Good Luck, Davis

Davis had put in his twenty and reached the point where he could offer more outside the Air Force than in it, so one of Jack’s last projects had been getting him appointed the very first ambassador to the Jaffa Nation. A couple days before Ambassador Davis gated out, they met up for lunch.

“I know you used a lot of political capital on my appointment, General,” said Davis. “I appreciate your confidence.”

Jack desperately hoped not to need political capital anymore, and besides, he was pretty sure it had an expiration date. “We need the right man for the job. Not someone who donated a lot of money to some senator’s reelection campaign, and we both know that was the deal with Hanover.”

Hanover had been Davis’s main opponent for the position. He was rich and wanted prestige where Davis actually wanted to serve the interest of Earth’s alliance with the Jaffa. He also didn’t mind heading across the galaxy for an unknown period of time. Something about a bad breakup.

And speaking of relationships, there was something Jack wanted to share. “So you know,” he said casually, “the Jaffa aren’t hung up on sexuality. If you ended up finding a friends with benefits, they’d consider it a great honor.”

This information came directly from Teal’c, who’d been the only person aware of Jack and Daniel’s relationship. They’d never told him; he figured it out and made it clear he approved.

Davis did an excellent deer in headlights impression. “General…”

“We’re both retired and I’m living with Daniel. I think we can ditch DADT.”

Davis relaxed slightly and didn’t insult him by trying to fake surprise over Jack’s living situation. Good man. The Jaffa would like him. “I’ll keep that in mind,” he said.

Jack had figured out that Davis’s significant other was a guy even before the breakup. The evasions were a little too carefully worded, a touch practiced. They were the kind of things Jack was doing at the same time, only his was pretending to be single and just friends with Daniel.

“Dakara has email.” This was how he kept in touch with Teal’c. “Drop me a line and let me know how you’re doing.” He wrote his personal email on a napkin. “Or if you get a craving for good old American snacks. I can always send something in with Daniel.”

“Thank you. I’ll keep it in mind if the urge for Oreos strikes.”

He’d gotten to know Davis fairly well at the Pentagon, and now he recognized this look. Davis was curious but thought whatever he wanted to know wasn’t his place to ask. “Go ahead and ask,” said Jack.

“If DADT didn’t exist, would you have stayed in DC?”

Easy question. “Nope. You know I don’t care for politics.”

“I know. It was actually a surprise when you took the command.”

Jack spoke quietly, though the restaurant wasn’t busy and nobody was close by. You couldn’t be too careful when talking about classified locations, even when using terms that wouldn’t set off alarms for people not in the know. If anyone did overhear, at most they’d think they heard weird place names or code words.

“I only accepted it because Daniel was going to Atlantis.” That hadn’t been one of his prouder moments, but he liked to think he’d served Earth well during his stint at Homeworld Security.

“So if he hadn’t, would you still be in command at SGC?”

Jack considered for a moment. “No. This would be the time to retire either way, I think. I have a dog now, you know. I’ve wanted a dog for years, and he’s a great fishing buddy.” Orion fit into his new life perfectly, and Daniel was pretty fond of the little guy as well, so the whole thing worked out wonderfully. 

“I’m happy for you.”

“Thanks.”

Their food came over, and Jack started in on his fries. Davis was one of those weird people who are his French fries naked, without ketchup, a habit Jack would never understand. He squirted ketchup on his plate and went to town.

“I imagine Teal’c will be looking out for me,” said Davis.

“Yep. For one thing, he’s very invested in this alliance. For another, I didn’t even have to ask.”

Teal’c was almost sent back to Earth as the Jaffa ambassador, but there were some concerns among Jaffa leadership that he was too close to SGC for the job. He didn’t really mind, because he was finally getting to spend more time with Rya’c, and he got to help make sure the situation on Dakara developed in a manner of which he could approve.

“I’m glad,” said Davis. “Talk about a foreign environment.”

“You’ll do well. I have every confidence in you, Davis.”

That was the beauty of retiring when he did. Jack had put Homeworld Security in trustworthy hands, gotten the next step of the human-Jaffa alliance off right with Davis on Dakara, and sent Carter to Atlantis. One of these years she would take over either the ever-expanding Area 51 or SGC, but Atlantis was a career move in the right direction, and he figured they could use a science genius to help them defeat the Wraith.

So Jack left feeling good about the state of affairs as he left them, and now he was going to enjoy his hard-earned retirement. He was only too happy to leave diplomacy and politics to others.

“Just remember,” he told Davis, “don’t invite anyone to have a seat, and don’t expect anyone to invite you to sit. A guest will sit if they trust their host.”

“I think I’ll be having a talk with Teal’c about etiquette.”

Etiquette. There was something else Jack wouldn’t miss. Retirement just got better and better.


	3. Cozy Domesticity

Daniel hadn’t quite gotten the hang of normal hours, but he was closer to them than he used to be. He was home by 6:15 most of the time, after a solid nine hour and a half day.

This particular evening, Jack had fired up the grill and was just waiting for Daniel to get home so the pork chops could go on. Meanwhile, he played tug with Orion in the backyard.

“You’ve got a strong grip for a little guy, don’t you? Ah, but I’ve got mass on my side. Yeah, you do have youth, I’ll admit it.”

Daniel’s voice was all kinds of amused. “Am I interrupting?”

Jack looked over to find his partner leaning on the porch railing, and headed Daniel’s way. “No. We’ve been waiting for you to get home so we can eat. Pork chops sound good?”

“Anything I don’t have to cook sounds good.”

Jack swooped in for a kiss before going inside to get the food. When he got back out to the porch, Daniel was petting Orion.

“I picked up corn to grill with it, and tomatoes,” said Jack. “I love summer.”

“From the farm stand?”

“Yeah. Way better than grocery store tomatoes. Maybe I should try to grow some next year.”

Orion didn’t care about vegetables, but he was very interested in the pork chops. “Sure,” Daniel told the dog, “abandon me when Jack brings out food.”

“He’s a dog. That’s how they are.”

“You do make great barbecue,” said Daniel, who did not. He tended to either burn meat or undercook it, sometimes both in the same grilling session. He made a really good stir fry, though, where Jack’s were boring. It probably helped that Daniel had the patience to cut up fresh vegetables. Jack just used frozen.

The chops made a satisfying sizzle when they hit the grill. In DC Jack didn’t have time to grill, and solo cookouts sucked anyway. He was so much happier back in Colorado.

Daniel, of course, was a big part of that happiness. After nearly two years of a clandestine long-distance relationship, being together meant everything.

“We haven’t really talked about how out we plan to be,” said Daniel. “Though I gathered from the answer machine you’re not inclined to hide.”

“Nope.” At this point Teal’c, Carter, and Davis were the only ones who knew for sure. Jack was content to simply live his life. With Daniel, of course.

“So if people in my department at SGC are asking if there’s a particular reason I’ve given up my late nights…”

“You can absolutely tell them I’m going to get pissy if you’re never home.”

Daniel rolled his eyes in a laughing manner. “I just wanted to check.”

Daniel was officially the head of SGC’s Archaeology, Anthropology, and Linguistics now that he was no longer on SG-1. The change suited him, and he’d dug up old projects long since forced aside. Jack was glad, because he didn’t really want Daniel on a gate team now, but wouldn’t have wanted his partner to give it up only for him. Even with his less-than-stellar emotional awareness, that seemed like a recipe for resentment.

“I don’t want to force you to be more out than you feel ready for.”

“I feel ready to say I’m retired and I love you, so anyone who doesn’t like it can fuck off. Hell, we can go get joint bank accounts and freak out the tellers if you want.” In DC, not many people would’ve cared. Colorado Springs was more conservative that way.

“That’s essentially how I look at it.” Daniel stood up for a hug. “And joint bank accounts would be very practical. Sometimes I can hardly believe it’s real.”

“Oh, it’s real. Didn’t the trip to the lawyer convince you?” Despite Daniel claiming it wasn’t necessary, Jack insisted on moving the house into both of their names.

“Actually, I think the blowjobs on the roof last night were even more convincing.”

Yeah, that had been hot. They’d never even dared kiss on the roof before, in case the neighbors saw. This time they’d kissed, alright, and kept right on going. “I think we should do that again.”

“I have a new appreciation for rooftop stargazing,” said Daniel. “A repeat performance sounds good to me.”

“Maybe not tonight, though. It’s supposed to start raining about eight.”

“That’s fine. I really need to unpack the rest of my clothes, since we got distracted last night. Oh, and I saw my new bookcase was delivered.”

This wasn’t just any bookcase. It was specially made to protect rare books, with glass covers for each shelf. Jack’s plan was to never touch these books, in case they disintegrated or suffered some equally terrible fate.

“You’re sure you don’t mind me filling the living room with bookcases?” asked Daniel.

“I am _happy_ you’re filling the living room with bookcases. It means you live here.”

The place undoubtedly looked different than it had when it was Jack’s bachelor pad. That was good, even if some of Daniel’s decorations were ugly, because it meant the house was theirs.

Daniel smiled, so it’d been a good answer. True, too. “What do you think of a new couch? Mine is too narrow, and the one you have isn’t as comfortable as it used to be.”

“We can get a new couch. Not leather if he’s going to be on it.” Jack pointed to Orion with his tongs, which inspired a brief moment of hopefulness in the beagle that food might be dropped.

“He seems to like being on the couch with us.”

“He sure does.”

“So not a leather couch. But I still draw the line at the bed,” said Daniel. “We spent sixty-five dollars buying him a brand new one of his own, and somehow it’s migrated to our bedroom, so he’ll have to make do with that.”

“Bed remains a dog-free zone. Got it.”

He positioned the corn where it would get just enough heat. Grilled corn was good. Charred corn, not so much.

“I know you felt guilty about staying in DC for almost two years,” said Daniel. “I don’t blame you. If either of us had stopped before the Ori were defeated, well, we wouldn’t really be us, would we?”

“Probably not. Still wouldn’t have been a problem if I hadn’t been so damn stupid about realizing what you mean to me. Then I’d have still been here.”

“True, but we couldn’t have had this anyway until you retired.”

“It’d have been better.”

“Yes and no. More time together, but more secrecy. I’m just saying you can stop beating yourself up about it.”

Jack was good at beating himself up. Too good, sometimes. “I’m glad we have it now.”

Sometimes he still reminded himself how close he’d come to never having this at all, a thought almost too horrible to contemplate. Retirement without Daniel would’ve been hollow.

Daniel stood behind him, chin on Jack’s shoulder. This was not ideal for grilling, but Jack didn’t mind. “So am I,” he said. “It feels like we’ve earned this, doesn’t it?”

“We definitely earned every minute.” Jack was sure of that. “The Air Force may have kept me long than I planned, but what I said about being all yours? I meant it. You want to spend a month in Egypt? We’ll find a place that takes dogs and go. Back to the Ancient treasure stash in England? Same thing. I’m there. We had to wait long enough. Where you go, I go now.”

Daniel spun him around and kissed him soundly. When they stopped for air, he said, “You’re far more romantic than you give yourself credit for.”

It was more a statement of fact than lofty romance, but Jack was glad it worked for Daniel.

“That’s what I want too, Jack. Us together, for as long as we’re both still here.” He took a deep breath. “If – when – we can, will you marry me?”

Like Jack even had to think about it. He didn’t need to be married, but it sounded good. Official. “I’ll marry you just as soon as we can get a license and bring my best man in from Dakara.”

Daniel was all smiles. “My best woman is going to a different galaxy, so this might take a bit of planning.”

“We’ll work it out.”

He kissed Daniel again. These days he couldn’t get enough kissing, and hugging, and generally being with Daniel. After surviving twenty years of regular Earth conflicts, then the Goa’uld, and finally Washington, Jack absolutely thought he deserved every single kiss.  

Retired life was really damn good.


End file.
